1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a guide rail lubricating device for an elevator, and also to a case and oil-retaining member for the lubricating device.
2) Description of the Related Art
As is disclosed in JP 8-91735, the present applicant developed, as a guide rail lubricating device for an elevator, one constructed of a bottomed case for being mounted on an ascending/descending unit operably ascendable and descendable within a shaft, an oil-retaining member accommodated within the case, and a lid covering a top opening of the case. The case has a recess through which a guide portion of a guide rail can extend. The oil-retaining member is formed of plural oil-retaining sheets stacked on over the other. These oil-retaining sheets are made of kapok, have shape-retaining property, and are provided with recesses through which the guide portion can extend. The lid has a recess through which the guide portion can extend. Lubricating oil with which the oil-retaining sheets are impregnated can therefore be supplied from the recesses of the oil-retaining sheets to the guide portion.
With a view to preventing loosing of the oil-retaining sheets along the recesses thereof in the above-described guide rail lubricating device, each oil-retaining sheet was modified in such a way that both side edges of the recess in the oil-retaining sheet were formed into tongue portions covered by first wear-resistant meshes intended to prevent loosing of the side edges and an end edge of the recess in the oil-retaining sheet was covered by a second wear-resistant mesh intended to prevent loosing of the end edge. This modified construction has however been found to involve a problem in that the tongue portions are pushed by the second wear-resistant mesh and are caused to outwardly flare (in the form of a widened V letter without the connecting part of the two arms), whereby the tongue portions cannot be maintained in uniform sliding contact with both side walls of the guide portion.